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Senegalese students see exchange at Amherst Regional High School as way to build peace between cultures

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Ten students and three teachers from Senegal are part of an exchange at Amherst Regional High School in Amherst. Here 11th graders Ny Aina Ramahandrisoa, Boris Gbeasor and Vanessa Giacomi sit in front of a display of artifacts they brought from home to display at the school.
(Diane Lederman/The Republican)

AMHERST - The have traveled nearly 4,000 miles from their home on the West Coast of Africa to the town and yet the students say other than the weather there are few differences between the two cultures.

Ten students – all 11th graders - and three teachers from the Cours Sainte Marie de Hann school in Dakar, Senegal came as part of an exchange with Amherst Regional High School. They are the first to come although a group from Amherst Regional went to Senegal last year on the first exchange.

A group from Gambia will be coming later this month as part of the West African exchange, created by three teachers here and a former teacher. The hope is to create an African studies program here.

The students, who arrived in this country April 23, have taken a variety of classes – acting, painting, ceramics that aren’t offered in their high school - along with the more traditional American history and French.

They have taken a trip to Boston, were to visit museums at Amherst College, tour the University of Massachusetts and take a trip to New York City, among their activities. They are heading back to Dakar on Tuesday.

Only one from the Dakar school had been in the United States before - Vanessa Giacomi lived in Virginia for three years when she was in elementary school. Her mother is from Senegal and her father from France.

Ten students and three teachers from Senegal are part of an exchange at Amherst Regional High School in Amherst. Pictured here are teachers Valery Michel Nyouki left and Lea Sanka, right. In the middle is student Maty Kebe. They are sitting before a display of art from their native country. Diane Lederman/The Republican

Maty Kebe, 17, said she wanted to come “to discover, to do some exchange.”
Yet she and her fellow students said they had a good sense about America from watching movies and television shows like “The Big Bang Theory.”

They like the same music as their American counterparts, including Beyoncé.

The biggest adjustment has been the weather. They’re used to 70s and 80s year round so some of the students had to buy warmer clothes. But that excursion didn’t seem to be a hardship. In fact - mention shopping and all grin.

Shopping at Target in Hadley was a big hit. Lydia Toure,16, grinned then clicked her tongue to show her pleasure with the purchase of sneakers with a heel.

Kebe bought bracelets, shoes and a shirt for her sister back home.

“Shopping is better here,” said Adja Rokhaya Diaw, 17,who bought shoes, jewelry and clothes. They have shops in Dakar, but with less variety of goods for sale.
They said they like the food better here too. Pizza in particular was hit.

Ny Aina Ramahandrisoa, 15, was amazed at how green it was compared to the brown Dakar. He also said that in Dakar, he and his family sit down to eat breakfast before they head out for their day where in America people just grab things and go and don’t eat together.

Toure thinks an exchange like this means people of different cultures can share those cultures. “It can make a better world. No discrimination.”

Knowing each other can help people “to live together in a peaceful world,” Ramahandrisoa said.

“The focus on the (Dakar) school is peace building,” said teacher Valery Michel Nyouki. In 1991, it was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education. The school is all about “living in harmony,” and everything they are engaged in promotes that. He said the school is comprised of students from 68 different countries and a myriad religions.

As part of the exchange, the group created a blog and were putting on an assembly in which they were going to present their native garb and share their experiences, Giacomi said.